Figures released by Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum show the country’s oil exports for August jumped by 92 percent year-on-year.

Iran has reported a whopping jump in its oil exports to Asia, emphasizing that its supplies to the world’s largest consumption zone are now much closer to pre-sanctions levels.

Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum in an announcement said exports of crude oil to Asian clients for August stood at around 1.7 million barrels per day (mb/d). The figure showed an increase of 92 percent year-on-year, the Ministry said.

Earlier, Reuters quoted market data as showing that Iran’s oil sales to Asian clients for July stood at an average of 1.6 mb/d, adding that the figure showed an increase of above 60 percent compared to the same period last year.

China imported 0.56 mb/d which was the largest volume of imports among the four Asian clients of Iran’s oil, Reuters said. India was the second biggest importer of Iranian oil at 0.52 mb/d followed by South Korea and Japan each respectively with import volumes of 0.29 mb/d and 0.25 mb/d.

Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in mid-October that Iran’s oil production had already reached close to pre-sanctions levels. Zanganeh emphasized that the country is currently producing about four million barrels of oil per day.

In mid-January, a series of economic sanctions that had been imposed on Iran for multiple years were removed after a deal between the country and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany – was implemented.

The sanctions barred foreign investments in the Iranian oil industry and also imposed a low ceiling of 1 million bpd on the country’s oil exports among a series of other economic restrictions.